Perspectives
by FeistyFox
Summary: Inspired by the prompts of the Tin Man Grand Prix. These are my responses to the challenges handed out. All of them are one-shots. Hope you Tin Man fans like them!
1. The Blues

Her apologies followed him down the long and apparently never ending hallways of the Finaqua palace

Disclaimer: For this and all proceeding one-shots I own nothing. Is it cool if I only say it this one time? Is everyone clear? I don't own Tin Man or the characters. I just like to play with them a lot.

**"Muglug" **

_According to Glitch in a deleted scene on the DVDs, muglug is a kind of soup. For this round, the word "muglug" must appear in the text of your story at least once._

**The Blues**

Her apologies followed him down the long, and apparently never ending, hallways of the Finaqua Palace. He stoutly ignored them refusing to break stride. He was not running, that would be an act of cowardice. He might admit that he was walking a bit briskly, but only a bit. Still this of all things was not going to break him, it was too utterly ridiculous.

"Cain! Honestly, I'm really sorry!" If she didn't lower her voice she was going to start waking people.

He turned a corner suppressing a sigh of relief when he saw the doors to his room and the only true DG free zone in the entire place. Once he was in there he would be safe. He found it ironic that he was seeking sanctuary from his charge. That certainly couldn't be a good sign. If only the supporters of the dead witch knew what they were up against they would be high tailing it in the other direction, away from his princess. Of course then he'd be out of the job.

He reached for the handle of the door turning it swiftly. He also wouldn't have blue-

"Come on, Tin Man, it was an accident! Please talk to me!"

He got one foot in the room before she pounced him. He grunted as her arms went around his neck and her body weight threw them both forward into his haven. He stumbled several feet managing, somehow to keep them both upright.

"What did I say about jumping on me from behind?" He growled. He had somehow lost the battle of getting attacked from the front. He wasn't sure how that had happened but at least he could see that coming. He counted that as a victory of sorts.

She made air quotes with her fingers in front of his eyes, arms still firmly around his neck as she clung to him. She imitated his accent as she repeated his warning and he felt his jaw twitching. "Do that again and I swear I'll make you wish the seamstress still had you." He let out a sigh of pure frustration as she kicked the door shut with one of her dangling feet. Speaking normally again she let him go and landed lightly on the ground. "At least you're talking to me again." She giggled good-naturedly.

She failed to mention he was now trapped with her. In reply he glared and pointed at her. "I swear that is the last time I teach you to do anything. _Ever_."

The Princess gave him a thoroughly miserable look. Shoulders slumping in obvious guilt her blue eyes went three sizes bigger and she tentatively reached a hand up. "No one else saw. I can fix it."

Her fingers sparked with white light and he caught her wrist. "No magic! With my luck you'd set my hair on fire! I'd rather it be blue than go bald or worse have third degree burns!"

She bit her lip and suddenly he felt bad. He shut his eyes wishing he knew how she had such an affect on him. One look was all it took to get him to do any idiotic or foolhardy thing she asked. He opened his eyes again to find her still staring up at him as if waiting for his permission to do something to help.

This really wasn't her fault. It was his. He should have known better than to agree to teach her to cook anything at one in the morning, especially muglug. He knew it stained, which was why he had made her put on old clothes. He simply hadn't foreseen her losing her balance and dumping a bowl on his head. He wasn't a viewer. Still, he should have known the escapade had accident written all over it when she had been skipping happily around the kitchen babbling about something called a diner.

"All I need is to wash it out with water and a certain soap." Then the horrible shade of navy blue would be gone from the top of his head. Not that he disliked the color. He just didn't want it on his head.

"Oh." She said softly. He let go of her wrist and turned toward his bathroom. He heard her shift before her voice broke haltingly across the whopping two feet of ground he had managed to cover. "Did you really mean that, Cain?"

He turned his head having no idea what she was talking about yet again. She was standing looking lost and forlorn in the middle of his room with a giant blue splatter over the front of her old oversized gray shirt. He frowned at her. This wasn't the normal cheery young woman he was used to dealing with. This wasn't the DG he had just seen making a mess in the kitchen as she expertly sliced vegetables, somehow managing to talk faster than a street vender, watch him, and avoid chopping off her own fingers by a mere hair.

Her whole demeanor was making him even edgier than when he had introduced her to what she had termed Outer Zone style coffee. That had been a mistake of epic proportions. "Did I mean what?"

"That you weren't going to teach me anything anymore." She said in a depressed voice.

He grunted again. It was his typical response around her. Mostly because it was neutral and could be interpreted in many ways. "Of course not."

She brightened immediately and stepping up to him went up on her toes and kissed him on his cheek. He froze in surprise as she bounced back with a huge grin on her face. He felt his neck get hot and glared at her. She simply grinned wider as she pranced to the door. "Good, because tomorrow I want to learn how to shoot."

He heard the door click shut and winced. That was a horrible idea. He'd best get his hair washed so he could get as much sleep as possible. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.


	2. Decisions to be Made

**"Brick Route"**

_For this round, the word "brick route" must appear in the text of your story at least once._

**Decisions to be Made**

Looking down at the map ice blue eye considered their next move. They had options, none of which were all that promising. Still, after four months of running a camp you learned a few things. The most important of which was that sometimes long shots made a serious impact. The thing was he knew, _knew_, something was going on out in his forest. And it was driving him up a tree that he couldn't put his finger on it. The reports were conflicting and his spies were running on no sleep and adrenaline. Rumor of strange magic and restless Papay had been cropping up like corn in summer.

"Sir!" His eyes flicked up briefly as he rolled up one map and replaced it with another. A young man, older than him by at least four annuals ran into the tent breathing heavily. He wasn't dressed as the rest of his fighters were in colors that would blend in with the forest underbrush. But then again he shouldn't be seeing as he had been posted in the Realm of the Unwanted. Even his people were wary of venturing down there. Good thing he had a few that were a bit… more outgoing.

"I take it you have something for me, Daniel." He hoped like hell it was worth more than the information he'd been getting. If it wasn't they were heading toward the mountains. Something was off in the Outer Zone. It was making his skin twitch. It might be best to meet up with another band, no matter how much he disliked the idea of relying on help, sometimes it was simply necessary. Besides they might have more information than he did.

The dark man nodded stripping off his ridiculous purple coat as he did. "Longcoat patrol went through the Realm about four hours ago. Picked up a few rebels from some wanted posters."

"Your point?" He wasn't interested in headstrong idiots. They had either been blamed for something they hadn't done or gotten in over their heads because they weren't thinking. Either way he had no time for it, or the fighters to spare to help the unfortunates. It was survival of the fittest these days and anyone stupid enough to get caught wasn't passing the test.

The man grinned as he began placing the maps back in their waterproof case. "They caught more than them and are on the way here coming straight down the brick route." So make that what, four to eight idiots? He still didn't care. Daniel pushed on his black eyes shinning eagerly. "The three they caught must have had some price on their heads to get Zero involved."

"Zero is with them?" He set the case down on the table focusing in on his spy so intently that the man took a step back. Most people knew better than to get him too interested in them.

"Yes, sir. Saw him myself, had one of the gypsies killed to keep her mouth shut about the whole thing." He didn't care about gypsies or prisoners. Zero was a different matter entirely.

His mind switched into overdrive, emotions cutting off as he planned. Zero wasn't getting away this time, not again. "How many troops are with him?"

"No more than ten. He's got five on horseback and the prisoners are cuffed to a log."

That they could handle. "How long until they get here?"

"Less than an hour."

Moving to the back of the tent he grabbed an old dark cloak and fastened it around his neck as he strode past his informant. "Very good. Change clothes and get ready to fight."

Daniels dashed off as he started shouting orders. His plan was simple, all the best ones were. There was less of a possibility of screw-ups that way. As his fighters hauled the wagon toward the old road he glanced over at the iron maiden he'd placed at the edge of the camp. He was tired of being chased by the ghosts of his parents. One way or another, once he had Zero, he was going to make them stop hounding him.

He followed his people down the hill and into the woods toying with the knife on his hip. Today Zero was going to be his. Today he was going to put his past and everything in it to rest and find out what the hell was going on in the Outer Zone. And tomorrow, tomorrow he was going to try to stop whatever it was.


	3. The Lure

**"Orchards and Vineyards" **

_Let's blame this one on Glitch, shall we? "Gotta love a good orchard!" _

_Your story must feature either an orchard or a vineyard. It doesn't have to feature both, but you can use them both if you wish. By feature, I mean you can set the piece in either one, you can center your dialog around one, whatever suits your fancy and fits the prompt. I've got some visual aids for you._

**The Lure**

A slight breeze blew through the trees bringing a new scent with it. It wasn't often that anything new wandered into the dead orchard anymore. Not with the Papay starving and trapped within it. The Sorceress was truly cruel to kill the trees that they had once farmed only to cast a spell to lock them within the confines of their once beautiful home. Cruel but cunning. Because who would dare to cross the starving farmers? The ones that had once been so loyal to only the Queen?

A hunter pack had left almost as soon as the first section of the orchard had started to sicken knowing something was wrong. They could feel it in their scales as surely as the suns would rise. They left searching for answers, for help. They had found men and Guild Members fighting. Pups and their mother's of every race and breed fleeing burning villages. So they had fought the darkness they could feel following the innocents. They had attacked the men chasing them standing beside other men with stars on their chests in a losing battle. One where they lost ground and pack members at an alarming rate.

Still they had done what they could. Running into the trees with the odd assortment of survivors once they had given the helpless time to put space between them and the predators. Then fear for their own set in. They had their own pups to look out for, their own mates and the darkness, the sickness that had started to bleed into their orchard, their paradise, their life was spreading like wildfire. Once they got back they could regroup and retaliate. They could help defend those who had worked and lived alongside them for so many centuries in peace and friendship.

But the Witch was faster than even their spindly legs. She was waiting for them beneath the wilted arm of one of the dying trees a triumphant gleam in her young dark eyes. Too late they realized their error their lapse in judgment. They attacked hoping to give their pack some time to run. She laughed at them and used her magic to hurl them farther into the trees before they could lay as much as a fang on her. Impacting with the now cold earth several of the more brave or foolhardy rose up lunging at her a second time.

She merely smiled wickedly waving her hand before her. Out of the ground a wall of darkly pulsing magic rose in waves coiling up and over the trees. They howled bouncing off the barrier painfully. "You should not have crossed me little pets."

Snarls and growls went up as quickly as their scales. Her voice turned sickly sweet as she addressed them. "Let's see how defiant you are trapped in your dead vineyard." The oldest of them attacked the barrier in front of her, a last show of defiance. She laughed softly at their leader. "Now, now, I'm not that bad. People can get in. Happy hunting." And with that she clapped her hands vanishing like smoke on the breeze.

Trapped and helpless they watched as their trees withered and died around them despite the care and attention they gave them. Hunger is a cruel master and drove them to do unspeakable things to those who wandered in. Those who had once been allies and trading partners. What choice did one have when the pups were crying and starved? Soon even the oldest among them forgot the scent of the flowers that used to float through their fields.

So, out of option, they hunted. Became good at it. Few could escape once they were foolish or suicidal enough to enter their prison. Still a few did. A few of the fastest or smartest or luckiest. And then she came. What they had viewed as only a meal surrounded by her own pack, willing to die to keep her safe, she began to glow. Amazingly pushing the sickness out of the tree she had taken refuge under. And as the tree shuddered to life beneath her hand they felt the barrier that kept them prisoner shatter.

In awe of their sudden freedom, of the scent of blossoms they had so long forgotten, they fell to the ground in recognition of her power. Fearing that they might still be in danger the strange group left as they circled the tree assessing what had happened. Barking, a matriarch called out to the pack. It was time to leave this place as the magic worked its way through the earth beneath their paws. It was time to go to take back what the Sorceress had stolen from them. It was time to go to war.


	4. Running for the Right Reasons

**"Did I say you could move?" **

_For this round, the prompt line must be used in your piece, spoken by one character to another. _

**Running for the Right Reasons**

He slammed the door to her room his hand firmly latched around her arm. "What the hell were you thinking?" His shout reverberated around the room as his temper, which he had held so carefully in check for the last two hours, snapped like a harp cord.

DG's eyes flashed in rage as she tried to wrench her arm free from his death grip. "I was thinking it would be nice to be gone before you woke up!"

He pulled her back with a growl, her utter defiance not helping to calm him down. "Did I say you could move? We aren't done here, Princess!"

"Last I checked I didn't take orders from you, Cain!" This was a total disaster that was rapidly going downhill. How she had managed to sneak out from right under his nose was beyond him and something seasoned criminals hadn't managed to do. "Let go of me!"

"Why so you can skip back off to the stables again?" He tossed the pack he had caught her with against the wall and he swore she flinched when it hit with a thud scattering the few belongings she had packed across the floor. "Where do you think you were going?" He would love to hear what the plan behind this had been. Had he been three minutes slower on the uptake she would have been gone and well out of his reach.

"Away!" She finally managed to get loose and backed away from him shoving her now terribly short hair out of her face. She wasn't even remotely apologetic as she kneeled down and began to shove her clothes back in the old bag.

His jaw clenched. "Away? Away from what? Your family? Your friends?" She snorted at that tossing a bruised apple to the side when it didn't pass her inspection. She wasn't looking at him and something inside him that had lay dormant for a long time was starting to claw to get out. And this wasn't normal DG behavior; she always looked at him when they were talking. "I don't appreciate being ignored, Kid!"

"Cain, I'm twenty-one years old, not a child." She finally glanced up at him her face impassive. "My birthday was last week." He had to fight not to show any suprise. She hadn't mentioned that fact and for the life of him he couldn't believe no one had remembered. Why her parents hadn't remembered. She glanced back down at a piece of bread that had crumbled into pieces. She sighed the anger in her eyes vanishing. "Now I'm going to have to go back to the kitchens."

She had to be kidding. "You're not going anywhere else tonight!"

She shrugged. "I should probably wait until tomorrow now. I lost too much time."

Panic began to rise up in him. He realized suddenly that this wasn't some kind of impulsive decision on her part. She'd been planning this. "You can't leave, DG." He dropped her nickname afraid it would send her running from him before he could talk her down.

"Yes I can." She replied firmly as she stood up setting her pack on a nearby chair before she turned to look out the window. "My parents have the country under control again and Az is doing fine. I don't need to be here anymore."

He wanted to shake sense into her. "So you're just going to leave? Just like that? No goodbye, no note, no explanation? Do you have any idea how dangerous it is out there?"

She turned her head over her shoulder. "I thought you said I wasn't safe here." His eyes narrowed and a small triumphant smile played over her lips. "Uh oh, Tin Man, caught ya."

"You think this is funny? If anyone found out who you were they would kill you in a heartbeat."

She turned back to the window and for the first time since they had freed her sister he heard sadness creep into her voice, she wasn't even trying to keep it hidden behind those big blue eyes anymore. "Actually I think this whole situation is very unfunny. But it would be better for everyone if I disappeared, at least for a year or so. Besides even running from Longcoats would be better than staying here."

He moved closer to her concerned by the conviction behind her words. "You can't possibly be serious. What are you talking about?"

"With me gone they'll have to announce Az as heir apparent. It's what Mother wants to do, she just can't figure out how to with me out in the open. The people see me and think I'll be some great Queen. They don't know I'm the one with the darkness in me. This'll make it easier." He saw something flash over her eyes. "It'll be easier for everybody once I leave."

The panic in his chest was becoming overwhelming. He hadn't felt anything like this in recent memory, not since he found out the Witch had taken her, since Toto had told her she was in trouble, since they'd broken into the Tower. She kept talking unaware of the emotions crashing over him. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. But I figured it wouldn't matter once I was gone." She shifted her weight. "At least you'll be free tomorrow right?"

"Free?" He heard the disbelief in his own voice.

"From me. From the palace. From this life we both know you never wanted." Guilt laced her words and he understood what she was saying. Before he could think through what he was doing he had grabbed her arm and spun her around. Her shoulders slumped when she met his eyes. "Don't look at me that way, Cain. This isn't the life I wanted either."

He grabbed her chin forcing her to look at him. "I've been free since you let me out of the suit." Her lip quivered as if telling her he was with her out of choice was the last thing she ever expected to hear. He pulled her into his arms and she went stiff in surprise before she relaxed burying her head against his shoulder. Stealing himself for what he was about to do he briefly wondered how she made him do crazy things. Maybe it was becoming a habit. "I can't let you go-"

She shoved him away hard but he held onto her. "I can't stay!" The set of her jaw clearly stated this wasn't up for discussion.

"Let me finish!" He tugged her back against him running his hand over her shortened hair as he watched her face. "I can't let you go alone. We can leave tomorrow night."

"What?" She was looking at him like he was crazy. Her eyes had gone wide and blank like they always did when she didn't understand something.

"Sweetheart, I'm going with you." He smiled softly running his thumb over her temple. "Too late to get rid of me now." She had no idea.

"Cain-" Her voice was barely above a whisper. "You don't have to come."

His eyes glittered. "Trying to talk me out of it?"

She rolled her eyes and suddenly the young woman he knew was back. "You say that like I could. I swear you're the most stubborn man I've ever met in my entire life."

He smiled as she leaned into his hand. "Don't forget it."

"Like you'd let me."

He hummed shaking his head. "You get me into more trouble." He saw her eyes flash indignantly and before she could protest he leaned forward capturing her lips with his. Moaning against his mouth he growled as her warm body melted against his after the briefest hesitation. She tasted even sweeter than he thought she would. He wrapped his hands around her waist and began to slowly back her toward the nearest wall. And she was the most stubborn woman he'd ever met; at least she'd agreed to wait until tomorrow to leave.


	5. Blueprints

**"Remember" **

_For this round, since this has a distinctively Glitchy flavor, Glitch himself must be a character used in your fic. He can be a supporting character, or he can be the center of the piece, but he must be in the story._

**Blueprints**

Glancing up at the machine they had fled through less than a week before his toffee eyes shimmered with calculations. It was terrifying in its complexity. But despite the disaster it had come so very close to causing, he was impressed with what the formerly detached half of his brain had come up with. The massive structure had taken well over five years to build and more processed moritanium could be found in this room than in all the labs and machines he had ever built before combined.

"So?" The youngest princess walked up next to him with a wrench in her hand and a stubborn set to her jaw. Had anyone told him she knew how to read schematics before yesterday he would have waved them off with a laugh. Or simply forgotten what they had told him. Come to think of it she could have told him numerous times since they met. He glanced from her back to the machine as the Tin Man wandered out from behind one of the large turbines. He was never far away from her anymore. He was starting to have serious suspicions about Cain's protective motivations.

He had woken up yesterday in a darkened room to find Raw sleeping exhausted in a chair next to him and DG leaning tiredly over a battered set of blueprints as Cain stood silently watching her next to the closed door. Unaware that anyone was observing him the Tin Man had let an uncharacteristic display of concern show in his blue eyes. It had taken Glitch nearly thirty seconds to recognize the fact that he _knew_ this was odd. He _remembered_ Cain's icy expression very well indeed.

Jerking hard a tidal wave of memories rolled over him as this one acknowledgement opened the floodgate to his past. He wasn't entirely sure if he shouted but he had somehow alerted everyone in the room that he was awake and was not like he had been. When he had been searching on and off for his missing brain he hadn't thought it would hurt quiet so badly when he got what he wanted. Thrashing he clutched at his head as his skull throbbed with the amount of data it was trying to process. This time he knew he was screaming.

He felt soft fur brush his hands and his arm shot out without his permission as he thrust the viewer violently away from him. He heard Raw slam backward into the chair he had been sleeping in with a crash as it flipped over backward.

"Stop it, Zipperhead!" Cain barked at him commandingly as he moved forward to stop him from convulsing. The Tin Man managed to hold down one of his arms for a few moments before he kicked him hard in the chest. He felt guilt and fear mix in with his pain as the Tin Man let out a grunt and staggered backward.

Then a flash of blinding silver light filled the small room as DG reached out and grabbed his wrist in her small hand. "That's enough." Her voice was soft but firm and her magic flowed around him wiping the pain away. He felt her body begin to shake as Raw staggered back to him and placed a glove-covered hand on his temple mixing his gift with her light.

A few seconds later and he went limp the pain gone. The young woman let go of him and staggered backward her knees going out from under her. Before she could hit the ground the Tin Man had caught her around the waist. She let out a growl of frustration and pushed off of him her hand flying to her forehead. "Thanks." She sounded sincere but annoyed with herself. "Are you ok, Glitch?"

"I…" He stared at her and saw her holding her head as a tired young woman at the same time she was spinning happily in a circle in a pale blue dress as a four year old girl.

"I…" He could remember her. He knew who she was. She looked up at him and he saw something flicker sadly in her eyes.

"I…" He saw the queen bringing her in after Az had her accident with that same sadness in her eyes. As if she knew even then what was going to happen in the next few months and years that would follow.

Reaching out she shook his shoulder gently her voice coming close to breaking. "You're glitching."

She was upset because she thought she and Raw hadn't been able to fix him. She was upset because she thought she had failed him. "No, I'm not."

The young woman and the Tin Man behind her froze. Behind him Raw rumbled in relief. Unconsciously he saw her reach back for Cain. He took her hand and squeezed it as tears glistened in her eyes. "Do you remember who you are?"

"Yes, Doll." He felt a shudder run through his body as memories sparked inside him. Flashes of lessons and inventions danced around his head and his eyes fell suddenly to the blueprints that had fluttered to the floor in the excitement. "What were you looking at?"

Caught off guard by the question she let her hand slip away from the Tin Man's as she bent down and picked it up as it crackled in her fingers. "I found the plans for the machine…The-" She glanced at Cain as if searching for a term. "-anti-sun seeder?"

He sat up and reached his hand out in a silent request. His mind was already filling in the blanks. He knew what was on the paper before he looked at it but from experience he knew it would make them less uncomfortable if he was holding the schematics before he began talking about them.

She handed them over her voice hesitant. "I think…" He looked up at her and she blinked as if she wasn't sure what to make of him. "I think we can convert it back to what you wanted it to be in the first place."

He frowned for once not sure how that kind of conversion was possible. As he'd told Cain and Raw in the resistance camp, this was a whole different barrel of monkey bats. Glancing down at the power grids she pointed to three of the turbines and he followed the line she made. Glancing up at her he gave her a happy grin thinking they could have some fun together.

And now two days later he was taking in her idea and tweaking it meticulously, feeling that long forgotten thrill of invention coursing through him. DG prodded him out of his thoughts. "So? Where should we start?"

Turning his head he smiled at her and he felt mischief dancing in him. "That depends. How dirty do you want to get?" The Tin Man sighed as DG grinned. This was going to be fun and this time he was going to remember having it.


	6. Heart to Heart

He'd told Adora once that being a Tin Man meant protecting those who needed to be protected

Round 7- "Cold"- Heart to Heart

Author Code: RU01AC018

Rating: PG

Summary: Coming to terms with his failures was harder than he thought it would be. Still Jeb had deserved better than the life he had.

Warnings: None

He'd told Adora once that being a Tin Man meant protecting those who needed to be protected. Those people that couldn't do for themselves. He pulled his hat lower over his eyes as he leaned casually against a wall in the palace courtyard. Why hadn't he thought about his own son when he'd said that? He'd been so sure he could keep him safe, that he could keep her safe. He'd been more pig headed than he was willing to give himself credit for. Then again he was younger back then. So sure that he could change things back if only he tried hard enough.

Looking at Jeb now he wondered how much longer he would have lasted if the Kid hadn't shown up, stick blazing in the late afternoon light. He felt a smile tug at the corner of his lips despite himself. Truth be told he hadn't even know how long he'd been trapped until he'd walked, admittedly a tad wobbly, down to the dock and seen that tree. Planted the thing when they'd first moved into the cabin. Adora had wanted to make Jeb feel like it was home so he figured having something they had planted there together as a family would solve that problem. One of the last things they'd done as one come to think of it.

Sighing he let his eyes wander over Jeb as the boy- young man. It was hard to think of him that way sometimes. When he caught sight of his son's dirty blond hair all he could see was his six year old smiling up at him. Then the young resistance leader would turn around and the memory would fade away as quickly as it had appeared. Jeb didn't smile much, not like he used to, not like a seventeen year old should. He found himself worrying about him for the first time in annuals. He hadn't thought either of them had lived through the attack at the cabin and had spent all his time festering and promising himself he would get revenge. It had been the only thing that kept him alive and just on this side of sanity.

Then he had found Jeb again and it seemed as if all the worrying he hadn't been doing in the last eight years suddenly jumped on him all at once from behind. Hell, he'd woken up in a cold sweat on more nights than he'd cared to think about in the last month, panicked, because he didn't know exactly where his boy was. It took nearly all of his self-control to keep his mouth firmly shut when Jeb ordered his men out on a raid.

He was a grown man by Zone standards and had been for over a year. And that was only in the chronological sense of things. He had a sneaking suspicion that Jeb had grown up long before that. He blamed himself. Because he knew well enough that he was responsible for the nightmare his son's life had been. Didn't matter that he and Adora had somehow escaped. Didn't matter that he was brave enough and smart enough to lead men twice his age into battle. Didn't matter that he was back in his son's life again.

He sighed quietly his eyes distant as he once again sought for a solution to this dilemma that he knew damn well there was no good answer to. Guilt and regret, two emotions that never lay dormant in him for long, once again began to battle for dominance.

"What are you thinking when you look off like that?"

His eyes refocused quickly his hand reaching unconsciously for the holster of his gun before he register that Jeb was standing right in front of him. He paused unsure of what to say to him as his hand dropped back to his side. It wasn't often that he broke the silence between them. While he never indicated that he disliked having him around Jeb seemed to have inherited his interest in idle banter. Needless to say their conversations were brief and to the point.

Jeb waited unfazed by the sudden movement toward his firearm. He supposed growing up in rebel camps would do that to a person. Jeb shook his head eyes turning away. He was obviously uncomfortable. "You shouldn't think about the suit. It only makes it worse."

"What?" His voice had come out sharper than he'd intended. He felt his fear rising up at that particular implication.

Blue eyes that were so very much like his turned back. His son sure didn't back down easy. "If you keep reliving it the nightmares come back twice as strong. It's part of the magic the witch put in them." Jeb locked eyes with him and for an instant he saw emotion flicker over them like swift moving clouds. "Think about something else, it helps."

His son turned to go and his hand shot out catching his arm. Jeb's head snapped around when his fingers tightened to nearly bruising force. He dragged him back over to the wall unconcerned with the anger he saw in his son over the sudden manhandling. "What do you mean it helps?"

Jeb growled trying to shake off his hand. "I mean it helps!"

He shook him. "How do you know that?"

His son stopped struggling and sighed simply looking at him. In that instant he knew. He felt all the color draining from his face. It was one thing for him to have lived through that torture, that half-life, that hell. It was another to know his son, the one person he was supposed to keep safe above all others, had. "How long?" His voice was gruff, strained.

"Not nearly as long as you."

He squeezed his arm gently. "Jeb."

Jeb hesitated as if he were afraid of the reaction he was going to get. "A few weeks."

His shoulders slumped in defeat and he let him go. "I'm sorry, Son."

"For what?" There was genuine confusion in the boy's voice.

Taking off his hat he ran his hand through his hair in agitation. "It was a mistake to leave Central City so late. I should have known better. I'm sorry for what happened to you. For what happened to your mother."

Rage flashed unexpectedly in his eyes. "You're sorry for doing what was right? As I recall Mom was right there next to you helping! Don't insult her memory by feeling sorry for her! And don't insult me with your pity!"

His head reared back at the force behind his words. Jeb's jaw was clenched tightly and he looked about ready to start swinging. He made sure his voice was soft and even when he spoke again. "Pity and regret are two different things, Jeb."

The young man's body relaxed minutely. He jerked his head in understanding though his eyes were still flashing. "You can't change what happened."

At what point had his son become more practical than him? If DG or the Headcase found out they'd be thrown into a fit of hysterics over the irony. "I know that. Doesn't mean I don't think about it."

Jeb grunted in understanding. "You really need more to do. Something to get your mind off things." He raised his eyebrow somewhat suspiciously. "Heard the Queen was looking for a new head of security come to think of it."

"Head of security?"

He shrugged as if it were old news. "Told her you might be interested seeing as you aren't a Tin Man anymore." He rolled his eyes thinking he had somehow been tricked. "They trust you. Can't say that about many people right now. Besides I figured you might be interested considering I already accepted the position of Captain of the Royal Guard."

"You did what?" He had definitely been tricked. He was betting his hat and duster that a certain dark haired, blue eyed, princess was behind this somehow.

"Think about it. They need to know by tonight." Jeb turned to leave as he glared after him.

"Tonight?" And he only got four hours to decide? He pressed his lips together already knowing his answer but needing to at least put on a show. This was ridiculous. His teenage son and a twenty annual old girl were running his life. But he'd told Adora once that being a Tin Man meant protecting those who needed to be protected. Those people that couldn't do for themselves. He may not have been a Tin Man anymore but he figured the principal was still as sound as it ever was.


	7. Doomed

**"See What?" **

_To finish out our character-centric trend, entries for this round must be centered around our favorite Viewer, Raw. As with last round, gen fic only, please!_

**Doomed**

Looking back he knew where he had gone wrong. He should have seen this coming. He was after all a viewer. But he'd broken the first cardinal rule of his people. Don't let your own emotions blind you. He'd let his fear rule him and had blundered straight into a trap of his own making. It hadn't helped that his ability to see the future was his weakest skill.

The Longcoats had surrounded him and captured him in less than a minute. He hadn't even tried to fight, he'd been afraid of getting hurt. Because even though he hadn't foreseen this, he could feel a level of hostility radiating off the men that was likely to be turned on him at any moment. He knew himself well enough to know he was no fighter.

So he had let himself get herded into a wagon and waited. There was one thing he was very good at. He was good at being quiet and unobtrusive. Eventually the soldiers stopped watching him. He could sense that they didn't find him threatening in any way. Which was good. He had been waiting for that. As soon as they fell asleep he gnawed the ropes that bound his paws together and fled as swiftly and silently as he was able.

The witch's soldiers were many things, but smart they were not. He got away and for the first time since he had been a much younger man he felt a startling measure of victory. For once he had managed to fend for himself without help. He, Raw, had outsmarted five highly trained lackeys. In the predawn light he slowed his pace and let himself bask in his triumph. And once again he broke the rules.

Not thirty minutes later he found himself running for his life from vicious, viewer-eating Papay. And they were faster than him. They were also smarter than the Longcoats. He was herded like a cow to slaughter and even his empathic gift couldn't help him find an escape route. There were too many and he was surrounded.

He stumbled and felt something heavy and smelly land on his back, driving all the air from his body. His world went black and the only thing he could find to be grateful for was the fact that he could no long feel the fear that overwhelmed him so often. When he woke up he was at first delighted that he was alive. That delight quickly turned to horror as his fur clung to him when he tried to move.

He knew what he was in and he was terrified. He did not want to be eaten. He certainly did not want to be eaten after being slowly and painfully digested in a cocoon. He had been better off with the Longcoats. He began to claw at the stretchy substance in panic. Then somewhere in the distance he felt a glimmer of something unique.

He paused forcing himself to focus on his gift. He sensed an odd, if confused individual that was practically radiating kindness. He hadn't felt such blind trust in anyone since he was a cub. Latching onto his last hope he began to mewl pathetically and very loudly. He even projected his gift toward the person in hopes that they would feel him and react as their nature would prompt them to.

Then he felt her and knew in that instant that he had made a fatal mistake. He promptly ignored the fact that he was on deaths door already. As she approached he began to cry for another reason entirely. If she let him out he wouldn't be able to leave her. He felt her innocence and something else beneath the surface that she wasn't aware of. He liked this human immediately and that too frightened him. The moment his gift touched her he knew he would treasure her. She was worth something; she was on the verge of something. And despite himself, if he didn't get away soon he would be pulled into it with her.

Light suddenly blinded him as the cocoon was torn open, but he ignored it jumping out of his prison with a roar of false rage. If he scared her perhaps he could get away. Then to his startled horror another human pointed a gun at him and growled a warning. He cowered back having missed the presence of the other two seeing as he was so caught up with the woman. She was gaping at him as if she had never seen anything like him in her life.

Then the Papay were back and he was running again. Pity the jump over the cliff didn't kill him. Because the moment he took her hand and read her he knew he was doomed to follow her no matter what she might lead him into.


End file.
